It is that time of year again where Rabbi Roger and I are so happy for our graduating students, and so sad their time with us is over. We have been reflecting on the last two years and how much we have watched their spiritual power growing, as they begin to think, speak and act “as a minister”. Each one of them has their own talents, their own strengths and their own issues that they are learning to handle in new, more energetic ways.

It is hard for us to say goodbye to yet another class, but we know that we have done our work well by who they have become, and by the spiritual power they are, and will continue to, grow into.

We wish them joy and blessings, and may they take their powerful callings into in this ever evolving world.

And now we watch and wait to see who is coming next!

May you all have a joyous summer, and I hope many of you can come for our Fund Raiser and Pool Party on July 24th in Elmsford, NY. More on this as you read on.

Blessings! Rabbi Roger and I hope that all is well with your ministry and that you are doing wonderful and beautiful work. The purpose of this letter is to inform you of a new change being made to the Interfaith Community International, your ordaining body. Since we began we have not asked for any professional dues, however, we have reached the point where in order to continue the professional and powerful work of the Seminary and maintain the Interfaith Community International, it has become necessary from a financial standpoint to institute annual dues. These dues will ensure that you are current with your “Letter Of Assignment”, so there is never a problem for you as to your legality as a Minister.

Therefore, effective immediately we will be seeking a one-time yearly fee of $50.00 as tax-deductible professional dues for the year beginning July 1st, 2016 through June 30th, 2017. We are requesting that all dues be paid by july 1st, 2016. Please make your check payable to the Interfaith Community International and mail to 405 Tarrytown Road, #1330, White Plains, NY 10607

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR ADDRESS, PHONES AND EMAIL IF NECESSARY.

We thank you in advance for your continued support of the seminary and your ordaining body and we send Light and Love your way.

Have you ever heard of the term “ THE CHRISTED ONE”? Yes Jesus was one, and there have been many others who held the Light of the Divine within them: The Buddha, Krishna, Abraham, and Moses, Kwan Yin, Mary the Mother, Mary Magdalene, Isis and many others are said to hold the Light of God within them .The Divine Universal Being, God/Goddess/All That Is, whatever name feels right for you, needs us right now to step up and become Co-creators with Him/ Her/It. It is time for all of us to recognize our Beingness with the Divine and say YES to using our power for the highest good for all life on this planet ALL THE TIME. . So, when Jesus said “Whatever works I do, so shall you do also”, who do you think he was talking to?

Personal power comes from the quiet time, not from the loud boisterous behavior that we see and hear about in the news. It comes in the quiet moments, in the silence of yourself, when there is nothing between you and the Divine. I find this personally, in nature, when I have a quiet knowingness that God/Goddess/All That Is, dwells in me and in everything. Every stone, every leaf, every molecule of water in a stream. To focus that energy and power into what I am choosing to do in that moment, from healing myself to healing the planet. That is the place where my power resides and where I can send it out to help and be of benefit to the world.

Personal Power comes from the quiet assurance that there is a connection between us and the Divine. That point of connection is what gives us our own personal sense of the power that dwells within us, and from that we can send that power into the world to heal, bless and benefit, with and for the highest good of all. No personal agenda or timing,… just holding in our heart that whatever we send out is for the Highest and best good in the world.

My first suggestion is that you don’t buy into the fear-mongering. JUST Stop …and actively take a stand for the GOOD. SEE THE DIVINE working FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD IN ALL THINGS…even when we cannot figure out how this can be…

So how do you do this? How do you connect with your power and use it for the highest good for all Beings?

Try this: Meditate on the vision of One-Divine –Power-of–Light, that fills the entire universe, and shines like the sun and blesses each living thing and every human it touches. Visualize it pouring from the Divine Heart of Oneness- (God/Goddess/All That Is) down into the top of your head… and flowing down into your heart… , and from there flowing out to all the people you can visualize or all the countries of the world, filling up every place there is contention or darkness. Feel the power of that Light to heal and support. Because you are tapping into the Divine Light, you are not making this light yourself; it is always available to you.

Well, here we are, 13 days in, at the beginning of a new year, and in a Mercury Retrograde as well. I don’t know about you, but I just have to laugh and watch all the craziness go by.

The beginning of a new year is a powerful time to set the stage for each one of us to set a new intention/direction for the year. So how do we do this with the seemingly backward movement of Mercury and the challenge to move forward in our lives for this year?

I have been doing a lot of stepping aside right now, and allowing the outward appearances of the world go by, staying centered in myself and my connection to the Divine, and staying conscious of the phrase, “for the highest good of All”. So when I hear a certain presidential candidate carrying on, making frightening statements that hearken back to Germany in the 1930’s, I could allow myself to get involved by getting scared or angry, but what I have been doing lately, is sending love and light “for the highest good of All”. I feel calmer and not as connected to the rhetoric of fear.

The Mercury Retrograde tends to magnify the fear-talk and confusion-speak, so everyone hold on, stay centered, and this too shall pass.

So my question to you for the beginning of this year is: What is the intention and direction for your life this year? How can you hold yourself calm and steady during the times of apparent confusion and fear? What do you do?

At this time of year, Rabbi Roger’s and my thoughts turn to gratitude, and how grateful we are for all our blessings, and for all of you who are in our hearts.

It was my joy to attend the AWAIC Conference (A World alliance of Interfaith Clergy) the weekend of November 13-15, Baltimore, MD, and to see how many of our former students were there, and to savor the continuing connection with them, as well as meeting new ministers from other seminaries. One of the most powerful events of the weekend for me was being there to witness the ordination of 11 new graduates from AIHT (American Institute Of Holistic Theology). I had an epiphany, and it was when Rev. Beverly Love acknowledged me at the beginning of the ceremony, as the Grandmother, the one who had ordained her in 2009, and here she was ordaining her own students. I realized that there was a lineage here: from Rabbi Joseph Gelberman, the Father of Interfaith who ordained Rabbi Roger and myself, to us ordaining our 10 years of classes at TNS, and our 4 graduating classes since then at NVIS, and now 2 of those students, Rev. Beverly and Rev. Grace Telesco have begun their own seminaries and are ordaining their own students. So I am a grandmother… WOW! Thank you Rev.. Beverly and Rev. Grace!

Roger and I wish you all a very Happy and Blessed Holiday Season, and a peaceful and Happy New Year.

It seems like just a week ago I was writing welcoming everyone to summer, and here it is, end of summer and heading towards fall. Rabbi Roger and I had a wonderful long summer, with lots of weddings, several conferences, my trip to Findhorn, and August was 2 solid weeks of family coming and going.

Findhorn was very special this year, with several of our former students taking their Experience Week and Rev. Brooke Kussling and I taking the Spiritual Practice- Nature Spirits course. It was the coldest summer I have ever experienced with temperatures in the upper 40’s at night and only in the mid fifties to sixties much of the time, with rain! And our class was outdoors much of the time.

The funniest experience was in Cullerne Gardens out by the compost heaps, when our focalizer (group leader) wanted us to tune into the elemental fire from the compost heaps. It was raining, cold and many of the people in the program did not even know what a compost pile was, and were looking at these tarp covered piles of, well, rotting kitchen scraps, covered with black covers, and trying to go inside themselves and connect with the heart of the heat from the pile. Well……lets just say that connecting with the other elements, water, air and earth went much better!

I had a magical connection with the trees and the trees allowed me to see some of their spirits, talk to them and to take photos of them.

It was an extraordinary experience. I will post some of the photos.

Because our former students have been asking we are offering three dates for our Bridge Program, which is the course we teach any Interfaith Minister from another school, about the deeper aspects of Barbara Marx Hubbard’s concepts of becoming a Universal Human and how to work with higher levels of energy and utilize it in your work as a minister. At the end of those courses we are offering co-ordination to NVIS, and new Letters of Assignment. So if this sounds like something you would like to do, please get in touch or fill out the application, further down the page.

So onward and ever upward towards our opening days of Seminary, the Jewish Holidays and the shortening days and cooler temperatures of fall.

June marks the start of summer and I have been struck by the amount of powerful change for good that has happened this month for the planet and for Her people.

The Pope’s Encyclical on Climate Change, which has finally tipped the scales on people believing this is real and doing something about it; the passing of the Universal Gay Marriage Act here in the USA and the incredible joy and relief that finally ALL people have the right to marry their Beloveds; and the incredible outpouring of forgiveness and love, instead of hate, in the face of the South Carolina shootings.

All we have seen for so long in this country and all over the world, is prolonged hate, killings and destruction of the Earth with no thought for consequences, and now, here we have, in a matter of weeks, a Papal encyclical, a mandate, if you will, from Pope Francis to love and take care of our Mother the Earth, in the face of Global Climate Change; an act of the Supreme Court and a ruling that changes everything for our LGBTQ Brothers and Sisters; and the enormous outpouring of love and forgiveness for a man who murdered nine clergy and parishioners in their church in S. Carolina.

Perhaps, this is the beginning of the change for the planet, the change for good; the raising of the Energy and the beginning of LOVE on Earth. I am holding that intention. Will you hold it with me?

We’ve changed the date for the Bridge Program from May 29th to Sunday, May 31, 2015. It will be held at NVIS Space in Elmsford from 11 am – 9 pm.

The Bridge Program is designed for the Interfaith / Interspiritual Minister who wishes to experience the movement towards deeper awareness of ourselves as One with the Divine, and with the Earth and what it means to become a Universal Human.

This involves discovery of your Higher Essence, and how to stay in that higher place of the Divine in every moment. This will allow you, as an Interspiritual Minister to operate from that place and share it with others at every moment. We invite all interfaith clergy to join us to broaden their perspective and ministry.

This program is open to all Non-ISIS/NVIS Interfaith Clergy ONLY. Click Here for More Information and the Registration Form. The program fee includes Ordination into NVIS and reassignment to the ICI [Interfaith Community Int’l], our ordaining body. Presented by Rev. Deborah Steen Ross.

July 18-25 to the

Findhorn Foundation

One of my favorite places on Earth, The Findhorn Community, is a magical place on the Northeast coast of Scotland, where the Moray Firth meets the North Sea, near Inverness.

It is place where the Devic (plant) world and our 3D world meet, where the veils between the worlds are thinnest.

It is a place of magic, nature spirits, music, natural beauty and growth; animal, plant and human. It is a place I go to when my soul needs refreshing, rewiring and retreating, and I always find my true self again there. It was appropriate that I return this year, the Community’s 50th birthday.

More and more people began to gravitate to this site on the North Sea and the Community began to grow, and for 50 years the energy that was originally used to grow vegetables, began to be used to grow people’s consciousness, their energy and their inner beings.

“Findhorn was an incredible experience. I not only grew as a person but learned so much as a student of ministry as well… I have taken the next step in my personal evolution through my journey at Findhorn.

I am overjoyed with my experience week and without a doubt will be back for more opportunities for love, growth, community, and amazing food at Findhorn! My experience has been priceless.”

­– Allison Weiss, NVIS Class of 2013

I have included some photos of the incredible flowers, veggies, grounds, and natural surroundings that I experienced while I was there. I had a chance to swim in the Findhorn River, and to cook in the original community kitchen in Findhorn Park, and to watch the Dance, Music and Storytelling Conference that was going on in the Park as well. And I was so happy to reconnect with my beloved friends that I have not seen in many years.

I hope you enjoy my photo journey and invite you to join us this summer, July 18-25,2015 as we make this journey again.